The Diary Of John Watson In Regards To The Hound Of The Baskervilles
by diagonallyfunny
Summary: This was a school project, but I thought it'd be fun to post. Implied Johnlock in some of it. This refers to the 1901-1902 version. I'll post entries as I write them :)
1. Aug 15

August 15th, 1889

Holmes and I had a particular client make a visit today. However, before he made his appearance, we found something of his he had left behind. There was a cane lying on the front steps when we returned, although Holmes could not find a calling card anywhere on the premise. The cane was well used, the iron ferrule worn down enough to be smooth and round. There was also an engraving present on the cane, dedicated to the name James Mortimer, M.R.C.S. The cane was, or so I thought, presented to the receiver by some sort of hunt club, due to the initials C.C.H., but Sherlock seemingly knew better and put the abbreviation down to the Charing Cross Hospital. I figured the man to be elderly, the walking stick presented after many years of service, perhaps a country practitioner. Something I mustn't forget is the fact that it was a Penang Lawyer stick, because I know Sherlock will cast it out of his mind and it may be of importance. I wasn't wrong about that, I'm sure of it. Unsurprisingly, Sherlock knew far more than I did just by observation, and it appears I was wrong about quite a bit. He did do something I've never heard him say in so many words before, though, and that was compliment me in my skills. He said something along the lines of "you are not yourself luminous, but a conductor of light." I do believe he meant to say I help him to his deductions, and the acknowledgement stuck with me even though he immediately leapt, like a hound himself, to correct me. With one glance at the stick, he could tell the man, James, had a dog, and that this dog wasn't particularly large, but not too small either. He had me look up the name in the medical dictionary, and we discovered he was not in fact old, but a young man. Why, we could not correctly decipher before meeting the man himself, but Sherlock surprised me with giving the exact breed of dog the man owned moments later. The dog was in fact standing on the porch, but I didn't realize this for a few moments.

On to the man himself, James Mortimer first appeared a nervous and slightly absent-minded man, for reasons to be revealed to us shortly. Holmes and I quickly learned he had left for the country not out of the lack of ambition, but on grounds to start a family. There he had met a man named Charles Baskerville, and they, by happenstance, became good friends. This brings us to the fact of the manuscript he was carrying in his coat pocket, one which Sherlock pinned to the correct time period by writing style and paper color. The man's skills are truly amazing, though I rarely like to admit it to his face. He knows it well enough himself. The story inside the script was a strange one, and could only be categorized as a fairy tale. The general idea of the thing was that Charles's ancestor, Hugo, had committed a sin and therefore cursed his family and himself. A great hound of hell had torn out his throat, and touched no one else, even though there were three witnesses. And that, the three men who witnessed it. Of all of them, one died from unknown causes and the other two lost their minds! It seems strange, and highly unlikely. The lady they had been chasing after had died of fright and fatigue, but her face was said to be twisted into a gruesome expression of fright. There was something lodged in the back of my brain in regard to the details, but I couldn't quite reach it. I didn't bring it up, because I didn't want to throw Holmes off, but I'm going out later and I'll try to figure it out then. The strangest part of the tale, however, wasn't in the script itself. Charles Baskerville, the friend of our client, had died recently and abruptly. The public records didn't reveal anything strange, but Mortimer looked around the scene more thoroughly and found the footprints of a great hound! He said it was bigger than any canine on this Earth, and he was at a loss for explantation. Sherlock quickly wished to dismiss any supernatural thought until it was the last possible option, and I'm inclined to agree with him, but this case is strange. I'm not so sure. Regardless of all the oddities, I'm still stuck on Sherlock's compliment. It's nice to know my deduction skills are improving.

John Watson


	2. Aug 15, continued

August 15th, continued

I returned from the club I had gone to today, after Mortimer had left. I wanted time to think, and however close Sherlock and I may be, he needs to be completely alone to process. Regardless, I didn't want to write down any details from the crime that had been brought to us until we discussed them together. To start on the details of the man himself, Sir Charles Baskerville seemed to be the _exact opposite_ of his ancestor, Hugo. He was a kind man; donated to charity on a regular basis. Charles seemed to generally enjoy people. He had made quite a bit of money in South Africa, and while HOW exactly he made it was not specified, the only real way to make money over there is to work in diamonds. Charles quickly realized what he had earned, and instead of trying to earn more he took it back to America with him, lest he lose anything. This is a quality I admire more than anything, he was clearly intelligent to a point. Interestingly enough, his health had always been a bit shoddy, nervous energy getting the better of him more often than not. Whether or not this was because of his knowledge about the manuscript one cannot know for sure, but one can assume it had some sort of impact. Perhaps he smoked to calm himself down a tad.

Despite his history of bad health, the crime scene seemed too strange to be attributed to simple health issues. The Yard didn't do a particularly good job investigating as they didn't have reason to, but Mortimer knew better and inspected the scene a bit more intensely. As I mentioned above, he found the footprints of an unnaturally large dog around 6 meters away from the body. There were no humanoid footprints to be found, other than those of Sir Charles himself, and those were hurried and frantic, as if he had been running for his life. The strangest part about that was that the prints led away from his house. The body was lying face down, and his fingers were dug into the soil as he had been dragged, but there were no marks to be found upon the body. 3 people witnessed the hound before the death, but none after, which is an admittedly strange parallel to the manuscript's legend (along with the fact of his face, which was twisted into an expression similar to the lady's). Charles usually _avoided_ the moor, though, and Holmes believes he must have been waiting for someone. Other than that, though, neither he nor I can make anything of the case. It's such a strange one, and there are so many details that seem unrelated.

Both of us will sleep on the details, and we will see if anything new has come to us in dreams once the morning hits.

John Watson


	3. Aug 20

August 20th, 1889

The morning held no new solutions, but ended up providing more confusing details and even more vagueness. We met Henry Baskerville, and with him he brought a letter, containing the phrase "As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor." Holmes discovered quite a few interesting things about the letter. He immediately knew that the words were pasted with gum to the parchment, and their origin was yesterday's _Times_ , simply do to the typeface and the quality of the ink. Sherlock was even able to decipher what article the words came from. He mentioned that the man was decidedly intelligent, but wishing to appear as if he was not, as the _Times_ is not a common-man's paper. From the ink used and the quality of parchment, Holmes stated that the letter was constructed in a hotel, as the ink was obviously low and the pen wasn't in top form, qualities a personal well and pen would rarely have, unless the owner lived in the middle of nowhere and had no access to such supplies on a regular basis. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Sir Henry Baskerville is being followed. Sherlock gave him time to ponder over whether or not he was going to go through with his arrival at the manor, or return back home, a decision of which, not but a few hours later, he chose the latter. At the time, he had been missing one shoe out of a pair, which was such a curious thing! It could not be found anywhere where he was staying, and then, while we were sitting down to lunch before he could make his decision, it reappeared, not without the absence of another.

When they were leaving the first time round, after having been given time, Sherlock saw someone with a ridiculously large beard following Mortimer and Henry. He was able to quickly get theca number, but it was impossible to follow him at such a quick pace. When we called on the taxi driver later, the name given to us, that of the strange pursuer, was _Sherlock Holmes._ I had to restrain myself from laughing at loud at the look on Sherlock's face, and he quickly admitted to having been the victim of a check-mate.

Another thing about the letter, Sherlock had narrowed the possibility of its origin down to 23 hotels in the area, and sent a boy around to all of them, but no cut-up newspaper could be found. Whoever we're after is unbelievably good at covering their tracks.

Ah, and one more important detail I cannot believe I neglected to mention thus far. I am writing tonight's entry from the Baskerville Manor itself, as I am the ability to sleep. Sherlock readily volunteered me to accompany Sir Henry (without first mentioning the prospect to me, I might add) as he believes me to be trustworthy and fearless. I am to observe everything and report back to him without bias, and so he did not tell me any leads he may have on the case. I was greatly flattered, but this place is strange, and I will be ever so grateful to leave as soon as possible.

John Watson


	4. Aug 22

August 15th, continued

I returned from the club I had gone to today, after Mortimer had left. I wanted time to think, and however close Sherlock and I may be, he needs to be completely alone to process. Regardless, I didn't want to write down any details from the crime that had been brought to us until we discussed them together. To start on the details of the man himself, Sir Charles Baskerville seemed to be the _exact opposite_ of his ancestor, Hugo. He was a kind man; donated to charity on a regular basis. Charles seemed to generally enjoy people. He had made quite a bit of money in South Africa, and while HOW exactly he made it was not specified, the only real way to make money over there is to work in diamonds. Charles quickly realized what he had earned, and instead of trying to earn more he took it back to America with him, lest he lose anything. This is a quality I admire more than anything, he was clearly intelligent to a point. Interestingly enough, his health had always been a bit shoddy, nervous energy getting the better of him more often than not. Whether or not this was because of his knowledge about the manuscript one cannot know for sure, but one can assume it had some sort of impact. Perhaps he smoked to calm himself down a tad.

Despite his history of bad health, the crime scene seemed too strange to be attributed to simple health issues. The Yard didn't do a particularly good job investigating as they didn't have reason to, but Mortimer knew better and inspected the scene a bit more intensely. As I mentioned above, he found the footprints of an unnaturally large dog around 6 meters away from the body. There were no humanoid footprints to be found, other than those of Sir Charles himself, and those were hurried and frantic, as if he had been running for his life. The strangest part about that was that the prints led away from his house. The body was lying face down, and his fingers were dug into the soil as he had been dragged, but there were no marks to be found upon the body. 3 people witnessed the hound before the death, but none after, which is an admittedly strange parallel to the manuscript's legend (along with the fact of his face, which was twisted into an expression similar to the lady's). Charles usually _avoided_ the moor, though, and Holmes believes he must have been waiting for someone. Other than that, though, neither he nor I can make anything of the case. It's such a strange one, and there are so many details that seem unrelated.

Both of us will sleep on the details, and we will see if anything new has come to us in dreams once the morning hits.

John Watson


End file.
